Telegraph Africa

There has always been a bit of gold in the steep, tree-decked hills around Walbrzych in southern Poland. Enough to prompt the opening of a few mines long ago, and enough for tourists to still chance their luck with a gold pan in the fast flowing rivers. But never enough to generate excitement and frenzy. Until now, that is.

Two men have claimed to have found what could be a legendary Nazi ghost train that disappeared without trace into the mountains around Walbrzych in April 1945 with a cargo of gold as it fled the advance of the Red Army. If the claim is true, then there could be a fortune beneath the people’s feet, and that has got them excited.

“People are talking about it. They are talking about in the town. My clients talk about it and we’ve had a lot of journalists coming by,” said Marek Marciniak, the owner of a cafe adjacent to Walbrzych town hall. “And when I go home and flick on the television I see a lot of news about the about the ‘gold train’.”

Mr Marciniak, like many others, is quick to stress everybody has heard stories about the train and its gold before, and how people have tried and failed in the past to gain their fame and fortune by finding it. What sets this time apart from the others, he pointed out, is that the two claimants have taken a legal step by filing a claim with the local authorities in Walbrzych in the hope of attaining a finder’s fee of 10 per-cent of the value of the find
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